Banksieaephyllum

taxobox
name = "Banksieaephyllum"
fossil_range = Paleocene - early Miocene
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Eudicots
ordo = Proteales
familia = Proteaceae
tribus = "Banksieae"
genus = "Banksieaephyllum"
genus_authority = Cookson & Duigan
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "See text"|

"Banksieaephyllum" is a plant genus that encompasses organically preserved fossil leaves that can be attributed to the Proteaceae tribe "Banksieae", but cannot be attributed to a genus.

Before 1950, many fossil leaves were attributed to the genera "Banksia" and "Dryandra". In most cases, leaves with triangular lobes were associated with "Dryandra", and leaves with serration were associated with "Banksia". In 1950, Isabel Cookson and Suzanna Duigan showed this policy to be flawed, by demonstrating that the leaves of the two genera cannot be reliably distinguished. Since these two genera then comprised tribe "Banksieae", Cookson and Duigan erected "Banksieaephyllum" to contain such leaves.cite journal | author = Cookson, Isabel C. and Duigan, Suzanne L. | year = 1950 | title = Fossil Banksieae from Yallourn, Victoria, with notes on the morphology and anatomy of living species | journal = Australian Journal of Scientific Research, Series B (Biological Sciences) | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | pages = 133–165]

Since then, "Banksia" and "Dryandra" have been further grouped into subtribe "Banksiinae", and another subtribe, "Musgraveinae", erected to contain two new genera. Interpretations of "Banksieaephyllum" are now no longer consistent. Some botanists continue to hold that "Banksieaephyllum" is for fossil leaves that can be attributed to "Banksieae" but not to a genus; that is, they include fossils that cannot be excluded from the "Musgravinae".cite journal | author = Vadala, Anthony J. and Drinnan, Andrew N. | year = 1998 | title = Elaborating the Fossil History of Banksiinae: A New Species of Banksieaephyllum (Proteaceae) from the Late Paleocene of New South Wales | journal = Australian Systematic Botany | volume = 11 | pages = 439–463 | url = http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=SB97021.pdf | accessdate = 2006-11-15 | doi = 10.1071/SB97021] Others hold that Cookson and Duigan's intentions were for the genus to hold fossil leaves that are known to be "Dryandra" or "Banksia", but cannot be attributed to either with certainty; thus they now define the genus in terms of "Banksinae" rather than "Banksieae".cite journal | author = Carpenter, Raymond J. and Gregory J. Jordan | year = 1997 | title = Early tertiary macrofossils of Proteaceae from Tasmania | journal = Australian Systematic Botany | volume = 10 | pages = 533–563 | doi = 10.1071/SB96016]

"Dryandra" has now been transferred into "Banksia".cite journal | author = Mast, Austin R. and Kevin Thiele | year = 2007 | title = The transfer of Dryandra R.Br. to Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae) | journal = Australian Systematic Botany | volume = 20 | pages = 63–71 | doi = 10.1071/SB06016] Although as yet undetermined, the latter interpretation would result in "Banksieaephyllum" becoming a nomenclatural synonym of "Banksia".Or|date=September 2007

Fossils ascribed to "Banksieaephyllum" have been found in sediments dating from the Paleocene to early Miocene. At of 1998, the most recent synopsis, there are 16 species, including:
* "Banksieaephyllum acuminatum"
* "Banksieaephyllum angustum"
* "Banksieaephyllum attenuatum"
* "Banksieaephyllum cuneatum"
* "Banksieaephyllum elongatus"
* "Banksieaephyllum fastigatum"
* "Banksieaephyllum incisum"
* "Banksieaephyllum longifolium"
* "Banksieaephyllum obovatum"
* "Banksieaephyllum pinnatum"
* "Banksieaephyllum praefastigatum"
* "Banksieaephyllum regularis"
* "Banksieaephyllum urnifome"
* "Banksieaephyllum westdaliense"

ee also

* "Banksieaeformis", a genus for fossil leaves with the same architecture as "Banksieaephyllum", but without organic detail; like "Banksieaephyllum", these can be attributed to tribe "Banksieae", but not to a genus.
* "Banksieaeidites", a genus for fossil pollen specimens that can be attributed to tribe "Banksieae", but not to a genus.

References